California Vacation Part 1: Disneyland and Before

A week ago we returned from a wonderful Southern California vacation. It was almost all wonderful, anyway. I'll start with the one low-light and then I can just focus on good times the rest of the posts. We left on Saturday morning and as we were passing Payson (only about two hours into our drive), our air conditioner went out. It kept blowing air, but it wasn't cold anymore. We tried to check if it was a fuse or something else easy to repair, but to no avail. We decided to just press on until we got to my sister's house in Las Vegas for the night. Unfortunately that was a VERY HOT endeavor. It reached up to 102 degrees outside and if anything it was hotter in the car. We stopped a few times just to get the kids into a gas station to cool off and get an Icee. Little Liesel was soaked in sweat, poor thing. Anyway, sadly the air conditioning system was totally broken and needed to be entirely replaced, which we were able to have done while we were at the Beach House in Oceanside. Too bad it cost us $1,700. We'd had to replace an engine motor mount a couple days before we left, so that was another $400. It's just such a bummer when our car is a 2006 Honda with only 60,000 miles. LAME! That's enough on the low-light, now I'll try to forget it.

Well, we arrived in Vegas around five and was able to enjoy the evening in their house in air conditioned comfort. With our broken air, we decided to leave early on Sunday morning so we wouldn't be driving through the Mohave Desert in the heat of the day. Our plan worked and the hottest we got to was 86 degrees on Sunday. We stopped at a LDS chapel in Rancho Cucamonga to attend church. Afterwards we headed over to one of my mission companion's in Costa Mesa for lunch. I really wish I would have taken a photo with Mayra and her husband Gérman, but I regret that I didn't (The one in the corner is one from last April when she came to Utah). We ate on their beautiful patio and the boys loved the giant leaves of some of the plants. It was so much fun to see her! We spent Sunday and Monday nights at the Ramada Plaza a couple blocks from Disneyland. We woke up to a large breakfast buffet and then walked over to spend the day there at Disneyland.

It was fun to have my whole family there: my parents, siblings and our husbands and kids.

We decided to start off on the Peter Pan ride and then hang out in Fantasy Land.

It was great to have enough kids that nearly everyone could have a child in their car on every ride.

The green tea cup's goal was to twist as fast as possible and the pink tea cup's goal was to counteract so that they were as stationary as possible. Both cups achieved their goal well.

My dad gets motion sick and isn't into rides much, but enjoys It's a Small World. All the kids liked it too.

When we went to Disneyland years ago as a family, we took a photo here in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride with our hands as eye patches. This is our re-creation of that silly photo.

My parents took care of our kids for a few hours in the middle of the day so Brad and I could go on Space Mountain, Indiana Jones and Thunder Mountain Railroad. Thanks!

The Buzz ride was one of everyone's favorites. If you look closely you can see that Brad is the best shot by far.

Brad and I lifted the boys on our shoulders so they could see the parade better.

Our crazy kids in Toon Town.

My nieces were able to meet a lot of princesses! We took the boys to Jedi training. Parker didn't get chosen to go up, but we enjoyed it anyway.

On Autopia, you can tell how much more seriously about driving Parker is than Jason.

Brad, Pete, my mom and the boys were able to cross the parade route, but they closed it off right as we got there, so the rest of us watched the parade again.

Liesel liked the music.

While we were watching the parade, everyone else went on the Roger Rabbit ride. Parker loved it, but Jason wasn't a fan. He didn't care for the Haunted House either, but the rest of the park he loved.

We went to Mickey's House and waited to meet him, but the line was going on forever, so we just gave up. Luckily the kids didn't mind.

As we were headed out we saw Pluto.

What a fun start to our vacation!

Liesel is Growing Older, but not Bigger

That actually isn't true. Liesel is growing bigger as well, but she is very petite. At her 9 month check-up (mid-June) she was in the 20% for height, but only the 3% for weight. She weighed only 15 lbs. 4 oz., which is very light for a nine month old. We've been trying to fortify her meals to help her gain weight faster, or "chunkify her" as Brad says. The doctor isn't actually worried about it at all. She'll just have to stay backwards in her car seat until she's heavy enough.

Even though she's small, she still is doing the things 10 1/2 month old babies do. She crawls around very quickly and pulls herself up on things. She is strong enough to pull herself up, but not very stable yet. She eats some table foods, but is still eating a lot of baby foods as well.

These videos of her "yucky" faces and commando crawling are from two and one months ago respectively.

Little Liesel Grace is still just as pleasant as can be. I don't know how we are lucky enough to have such a delightful little girl in our family, but I am very grateful.

ABCs and 123s

Jason loves singing. He is always asking me to sing him a song and frequently joins in singing himself. He can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "I'm a Child of God" and "Happy Family". His favorite songs, however, are "ABCs" and "123s". You can get a taste of how energetic Jason is, but also what an adorable little voice he has.

Sorry, my memory card was too full and ran out there at the end.

I Spy

Parker is such a good reader! Sometimes he will read stories with Jason. Whenever we get an "I Spy" book from the library, it keeps them busy for hours. This video is pretty funny of Parker, since he can't seem to help himself in showing Jason where to find everything.

On the Cusp

Parker is SO CLOSE to riding his bike without training wheels. We've been out of town and busy and so he hasn't hardly had a chance to practice. I am sure, however, that he will be riding his bike in no time!

Fun with Aunt Angie!

My sister Angie stayed overnight a few weeks ago so she could watch the kids while I competed in the triathlon. My kids (and I) adore Angie and are always glad for the opportunity to spend time with her.

We went on a walk and to the park down the street.

There is something magical about holding a sleeping baby.

Thanks a million Angie for helping us out!

I am a Triathlete!

the beginning of this month I competed in my first triathlon up in Logan. It was amazing! Here I am right before the race with my cousin Wade.

Most triathlons are in open water, but I decided to do my first one in a pool. I am not a strong swimmer and am certainly not fast. I was worried I might get tired and have to back stroke, but I was able to achieve my goal of doing it all on my front, either freestyle or breast stroke.

The bike ride was my favorite part: 12.1 miles through beautiful Cache Valley.

My cousin Wade on the 3.1 mile run.

This is moments before I crossed the finish line!

We had wonderful cheerleaders! My cousin Ann Marie had originally planned to race with us, but she's been busy planning a wedding instead of training. I'm excited for Joe to join our family! They and Brad were such good sports to come all the way up to watch us that early!

It may have only been a sprint (half the Olympic distance), but it was a great start. It was really so much fun and I wasn't even sore afterwards; I surely should have pushed myself harder. For my own benefit of trying to beat my times, I'll post them. My swim was 17:33.2, my bike was 48:50.4, the run was 36:41.2 and my overall including transitions was 146:13.0. I definitely want to do another triathlon and hope to do the Cache Valley Sprint again next year! We're officially triathletes!

Thank you to wonderful Aunt Angie who slept over at our house Friday night so that we could leave at six in the morning and not worry about our kids all morning. We love you Angie!

Sorority Girls

Back in college I joined an LDSSA church-sponsored sorority at the U of U. I was part of Beta and loved it! I made so many wonderful friends and still keep in touch with many of them. We had the chance to get together a few weeks ago for Maria's baby shower. We all are in different stages of life now, with some still single and others married with up to four kids. It was so much fun to see everyone who could come and we missed those who couldn't!

Back: Lindsay, Janet, Me, Kirsten and her daughter McKenzie, Becky, Leigh, Christine and Sarah. Front: Jamie, Ali, Maria, Kirsten's son Cooper, Shari and Tobi.

Independence Day

After our hike up in Brighton we went over to my sister-in-law Jackie's with Brad's parents and siblings and their families. Eric barbecued some delicious burgers. He also cooked up some sunnyside eggs to put on top. I guess there is a similar burger at Red Robin. I wouldn't have thought to try it, but it really was pretty good. I don't know why I didn't take any photos, but this one. Liesel has quite the expression, but you can see her fun patriotic outfit.

Afterwards we headed over to my parents for another barbecue. The kids collected a ton of pill bugs or "potato bugs".

Later on Uncle Scott put on a firework show for us. My mom had also bought them each a box of Pops.

Here are kids lined up watching the fireworks.

Everyone had fun with sparklers.

After all the fireworks we enjoyed popsicles and ice cream on a stick.

We stopped to watch the North Ogden fireworks before returning home. The boys loved it! Even Liesel was mesmerized.

I am so thankful to live in the United States. I appreciate all of our freedoms and all of those who have sacrificed to help us keep them.

4th of July Brighton Hike

On the fourth of July we hiked up in Brighton with my family. We started out walking around Silver Lake. It was amazing how much snow was still around in mid-summer.

The whole boardwalk wasn't snowy, but there were large patches of snow.

There was a fisherman that let the kids take turns holding his pole.

Here is a photo of our whole group.

Some of us were up for more hiking, so we headed up towards Lake Mary. Liesel loves hiking! Of course almost anyone would love a sedan chair ride through the mountains, ha, ha!

Throughout the hike there were lots of patches of snow.

Jason was a good little trooper much of the way, but after a while his little legs got worn out, so we took turns carrying him.

When we were within about a 1/2 mile, the snow just became too much. We probably could have made it, but we weren't interested in sledding back down.

We decided to make this big rock our end point instead.

Here is our happy family appreciating the view.

On the way back to our car, Jason wanted to go with Daddy, which meant the Brad was hauling two kids! Way to be a Super-Dad!